This Story Breaks My Heart

A Cambridge family would have celebrated their baby girl’s second birthday Saturday, but instead, they were searching for answersas to what caused Olivia Perkins, and three other children in the family, to contract E.coli. It was that bacteria that eventually took little Olivia’s life just weeks ago. "What’s worse is it has to be someone dies before someone cares and does something about it. And we’re still pressing them to care, not just because we want answers, but out family needs answers. If we had answers we would be more at peace with this," said Olivia’s Aunt, Jennifer Whaley.

Whaley said as soon as Olivia got sick, three other children in the family got sick, including her two sons. Soon after, they learned each child would test positive for E.coli, and little Olivia wouldn’t make it. "We’re just a very healthy family, and for something like this to hit our kids–you spend all your lives trying to protect your kids," said Whaley.

Whaley said the Guernsey County Health Department tested everything the family came in contact with—after the fact—and came up with nothing. But Friday, when her sister was working at a local restaurant—and spinach was being pulled from the shelves—they thought there might be a connection. "It is spinach that they use on their sandwiches, and she brought it home and fed it to the kids on numerous nights when she closed the restaurant," said Whaley.

Now the family is asking the local health department for DNA testing, hoping they can finally get the answers they’ve been searching for. Jackie Cain, NEWS9